UPDATE: School terminates hall supervisor, students react

On Tuesday, Sept. 6, hall supervisor Waverly Jones received a call to report to the main office at the end of his shift.

After confirming that he produced and posted videos of himself and students on YouTube on “company time,” Jones said he was told by principal Jay Opperman and assistant principal Trudi Nolin that because of his “unprofessional” behavior he was “not a role model” in compliance with page five of the WHS staff handbook. At that point, he said he was informed that he was being terminated.

While Opperman can confirm that Jones is no longer employed by Westside Community Schools, he is unable to provide any further information about the exact reason or reasons for Jones’ termination.

“Although I cannot comment on a specific employment issue, there is a process in place whenever events occur that could jeopardize an employee’s work status,” Opperman said.  “A review is done that considers past performance, current performance, and the nature of the situation being investigated. We do not make employment decisions lightly.  We take into consideration all the facts, and we talk to the staff member and discuss our concerns and give him or her the opportunity to provide us with information from his/her point of view.  Westside Community Schools strives to maintain staff with the highest level of professionalism.”

Jones — a father, coach and two-year district employee — said that his previous videos received no attention from administration and that he was never given a warning about the possible consequences of these actions.

“If I did something wrong, I can deal with that,” Jones said. “But just to get rid of me, and terminate me, and say [that] I’m unprofessional and not a role model, that’s when you’ve messed up. That’s what really ticked me off. I was hurt. I felt betrayed.”

A familiar face to all, Jones was able to console and connect with many students on a deep, personal level and he said he believes that the lessons he taught influenced their lives in a positive way.

“If there’s ten kids and I can reach one of you, I did my job,” Jones said. “But there was 2,000 kids in here, and I feel like I reached half of them. I even had kids at the Career Center who were like, ‘I should’ve listened to Waverly, what he told me to do.’”

Junior DeVante Hartin has known Jones since before he was in middle school when Jones taught him to play football. However, it wasn’t until Hartin entered high school, the same year that Jones began supervising, that their personal connection truly began.

“He’s a person you’ll remember all your life,” Hartin said. “Down the road, when you’re sitting in bed, listening to your grandchildren… you’ll remember that one person that taught you morals in life, that stuck with you all the way through.”

Before being terminated, Jones said he was working four jobs, including his hall supervisor position at Westside. He said that his WHS job was “never about the money,” and that he instead valued the impact he felt that he left on the students he was able to reach.

“I get off my one job at either three, four, five or six, I’m taking a break and I’m coming inside here,” Jones said. “I could’ve stayed at home. I could’ve slept. I could have been a PTA dad with my own kids. But no, I came for somebody else cause that’s just the person in me. I love kids, I love to be around kids, I’m a big kid myself.”

Students displayed gratitude and appreciation during Jones’ employment, and even more so after his termination. Sophomores Jazmine Rockwell and Lior Nicholson originally created a paper petition on Wednesday, Sept. 7, when they received news from a friend that Jones had been terminated.

“I decided that I wanted to start the petition because Wave is a good guy,” Rockwell said.  “He pretty much inspired half of the school. He was really there for people. He wanted to talk to kids [and] make sure they’re okay.”

On Friday, Rockwell said she confirmed with assistant principal Trudi Nolin that Jones had in fact been terminated. Rockwell then said she

informed Nolin about the now online petition she created. With 250 signatures and more coming in, she plans on taking the petition back to Nolin once 500 to 1,000 signatures have been compiled. Rockwell said she then plans to present it to school board members at the ABC building.

“With that petition right there, it showed me that I was loved, I still am loved and I [made] an impact,” Jones said. “That means a lot to me, and I wish that Westside can look at that and be like, ‘Man, we need more positive people like that inside this school. We need people like that to reach our kids, we need somebody that’s not afraid to get their hands dirty.”

Jones says that he isn’t going to let his termination “change who he is” and plans to stay in contact with the students he was closest with.

“Because Westside let me go, I don’t want y’all to walk around with your head down,” Jones said. “I don’t want y’all to walk around with an attitude. I don’t want y’all to be like that. I want y’all to stay positive and be like ‘You know what, Waverly was in here, he helped my head right, he told me what to do, he made me be respectful to y’all, and I’m gonna do it.’”